Marilyn Alvarado, a 29-year toll collector, takes payment Tuesday from one of the last drivers able to pay cash.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Marilyn Alvarado, a 29-year toll collector, takes payment Tuesday...

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Electronic equipment is in place to record license plates and Fastrak transponders on the first day of automatic toll collecting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Electronic equipment is in place to record license plates and...

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Commuters roll through the toll plaza without stopping on the first day of electronic toll collecting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Commuters roll through the toll plaza without stopping on the first...

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Toll collector Dawnette Reed (left) embraces coworker Marsha Bardhorst as Bardhorst takes over at the end of Reed's final shift at the toll booths of Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Toll collector Dawnette Reed (left) embraces coworker Marsha...

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Highway Patrol Capt. Shon Harris (left) and officer Andrew Barclay wave commuters through the toll plaza on the first day of electronic toll collecting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Highway Patrol Capt. Shon Harris (left) and officer Andrew Barclay...

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Marsha Bardhorst, a toll collector for 19 years, begins her last shift at the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday.

Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle

Marsha Bardhorst, a toll collector for 19 years, begins her last...

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Commuters approach the toll plaza on the first day of electronic toll collecting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Commuters approach the toll plaza on the first day of electronic...

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Commuters breeze through the toll plaza of the Golden Gate Bridge on the first morning rush hour of all-electronic tolling. Some zoomed through too quickly.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Commuters breeze through the toll plaza of the Golden Gate Bridge...

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Drivers approach the unstaffed toll plaza on the first day of electronic toll collecting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Commute traffic was light - and speedy - at the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza Wednesday, the first day of all-electronic tolling.

"Things went very well," said Mary Currie, a bridge spokeswoman. "During the morning, it was by and large very efficient."

Things were so efficient that a different problem cropped up: Drivers zoomed too fast through the plaza lanes, where the speed limit is 25 mph, said Officer Andrew Barclay, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

"The biggest issue we're addressing is speed. We've had people go through over 60 - there we go, someone just did it right now," Barclay said from the bridge Wednesday. "The message we're trying to get across to people is don't stop, but slow down."

CHP officers will be keeping a special eye out for speeders over the coming week, Barclay said.

The confusion increased slightly after the morning commute, when befuddled tourists and drivers who don't regularly cross the bridge stopped at the closed booths to try to pay cash, Currie said.

Most drivers continued on after hearing the honks of other motorists or an amplified command to keep moving.

Tolls are now collected via FasTrak transponders or a video system that captures the license plates of cars that drive through the plaza.

Drivers can set up license-plate accounts or make one-time payments online or at kiosks in retail stores around the Bay Area. Confused tourists and other newbies who don't pay will be mailed invoices instead of citations and fines.

Saving millions

The last cash toll was accepted by a human toll taker at midnight Tuesday when an antique Packard car rolled through the toll plaza. At 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, the toll booth closed and drivers began to pay electronically.

Making the Golden Gate Bridge the first in the state to collect tolls electronically is expected to save the district $19 million over eight years and help reduce a projected $89 million five-year budget shortfall.

Since the January 2011 decision, most of the 28 toll collectors then employed have found other jobs within the Golden Gate Bridge district or have retired. But nine lost their jobs.

For two veteran toll-takers, Tuesday was a momentous and sad day at the bridge. After leaving their toll booths for the last time at 2 p.m., Jacquie Dean and Dawnette Reed, both 42, fought back tears as they talked about the end of their careers as the human faces of the bridge.

The toll collectors, officially known as bridge officers, said they'd developed relationships with regular customers, their children and pets, posed for pictures with babies and garden gnomes, given directions to tourists and seen just about everything - including drivers crossing the bridge in the buff.

"They like to shock you," Dean said. "We have the ladies who just got boob jobs flash us. 'How do you like 'em?' I told them, 'I've got some of my own.' "

Dean was particularly fond of working Halloween and seeing the costumed characters parade past in their cars, including men wearing only wigs dressed as male versions of Lady Godiva.

Round of applause

Both women said their fellow toll collectors were like family.

"I grew up here," said Dean, who's not sure what she'll do next. "The worst times of my life have been shared with the people here: losing my parents, my grandparents; and weddings and funerals. We've been through it all together."

Reed, who has applied for a job at BART, said she'll miss the customers most. On Tuesday, many of those customers lingered a little longer than usual to say their farewells. Some gave them gift cards, flowers, candy or personal messages.

As the two women spoke, an open-air tour bus pulled up to the soon-to-be-vacated toll plaza. The driver announced that it was the last day on the job and the passengers gave the two toll collectors a raucous round of applause.

"I'm really going to miss this," said Dean, a tear running down her cheek.